PROCEEDINGS OP THE FARMERS* CLUB. 103 



Solon Robinson replied that it was only about five years since its depre- 

 dations became so great as to attract attention to any extent, and now it 

 is everywhere a great destroyer. 



Dr. Trimble. — I cannot tell the date of its appearance, but I recollect 

 that soon after the morns multicaulis mulberry excitement this worm was 

 noticed, and some people thought it must have been introduced into the 

 country with those trees. 



Mr. Hawkshurst said that he remembered seeing these worms here 

 twenty-one years ago. 



John G. Bergen. — I am sure that I saw them in Brooklyn twenty-eight 

 years ago, and I remember a circumstance that proves that they were upon 

 the Battery, in this city, as early as that. 



Dr. Trimble. — These worms are now a terrible pest in this city. The 

 trees in Union square are eaten almost bare of leaves, and the worms hang 

 in myriads by their little threads, ready to drop upon the ground, or upon 

 the heads of passengers. Ladies avoid the Park, because they cannot go 

 near it without bringing away some of these undesirable appendages to 

 their dress. I noticed one of the street lamps almost covered with the 

 worms. The keeper of the square said that a few years ago there was a 

 large number of cedar birds visited the trees and nearly destroyed all the 

 worms.. 



Mr. Wni. S. Carpenter. — I am under the impression that all birds feed 

 on worms. 



Sorgo Cultivation. 



Henry Daniels, Bedford, Pike county, 111., says that a great m^.jority of 

 the people of that county are as dependent upon the sorgo crop for all their 

 sweetening as the new settlers of timbered countries are upon the maple 

 trees. In most cases the molasses made on the farm is a very poor article, 

 not on account of the source from which it is derived, but from the mode 

 of manufacture, and he wonders if there is any book published that will 

 give farmers the "much-needed information. 



Solon Robinson. — There is a book published in this city, and obtainable 

 from booksellers everywhere, upon sorgo culture, which embraces Lover- 

 ing's experiments in the manulacture of syrup and refined sugar from 

 sorgo juice. There have been several other publications upon the mode 

 of manufacture, but where for sale, and at what price, or whether suited 

 to the wants of farmers in that part of Illinois, I cannot say. Perhaps the. 

 publishers do not wish me to say, nor to sell their books ; if they did, 

 they would probably advertise their value to those who need such informa- 

 tion. 



Prof. Mapes. — I have no doubt with proper skill, sugar can be made 

 from sorgo, just as easily as syrup. Mr Lovering's experiments prove 

 this, and also prove that much depends upon the time of cutting the cane, 

 and that it must not be cut long before it is ground, unless some agent is 

 used to counteract the acidity of the juice. One of the most important 

 facts for manufacturers of sugar from this new product of the farm to 

 learn, is to boil the juice rapidly. If boiled slowly in open kettles, it will 



